The present invention relates to a flat panel display control apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus for controlling a flat panel display device which is compatible with a cathode-ray tube (to be referred to a CRT hereinafter) display device.
Conventionally, CRT display devices are most popular as display devices for personal computers. CRT display devices are superior to other display devices in terms of luminance, contrast and the like. However, since CRT display devices are heavy and large in size, they cannot be applied to handheld personal computers. Meanwhile, in addition to the CRT display device, flat panel display devices such as a liquid crystal display device (to be referred to as an LCD hereinafter), a plasma display device, an electro luminescent (EL) display device and the like are available. Although they were at first used for relatively compact devices, such as wristwatches, electronic calculators and the like, they can display the same number of dots as the CRT display device in keeping with the trend to enlarged display sizes in recent years. Thus, flat panel display devices are now used for handheld personal computers in place of CRT display devices.
However, in the computer field, it is important to provide software compatibility when new equipment is developed. When a newly developed computer does not have software compatibility with respect to a conventional computer, new software must be developed. In order to avoid such a need, newly developed computers are generally designed so that conventional computer software can be used.
In this context, the case of a newly developed personal computer with a flat panel display device having software compatibility with a conventional personal computer with a CRT display device will be considered. Although the CRT and flat panel display devices must have the same dot matrix configurations constituting one character and constituting one screen, these requirements can be easily realized by current technology. Display for emphasizing a part of a display by blink, reverse, underlining, and high-brightness display is performed by the CRT display device. Note that high-brightness display is employed to attract the attention of an operator by increasing luminance of a certain displayed character or portion among other displayed characters or portions. Since the flat panel display device can display in only a single color and has no gradation; blink, inversion and underlining can be performed as emphasized display. However, it is difficult to realize high-brightness display. Particularly, in an LCD, luminance is optimally pre-adjusted. For this reason, when the luminance or brightness is changed, it is difficult or impossible to watch a display image. This tendency becomes more notable as the LCD becomes larger in size. Therefore, even if a personal computer with a flat panel display device having software compatibility with a personal computer with a CRT display device were to be developed, such compatibility could not provide high-brightness display as an emphasized display. Since the current personal computer with a CRT display device frequently utilizes high-brightness display, if such display cannot be used in a personal computer with a flat panel display device, the corresponding portion would not be displayed, resulting in inconvenience and thereby impairing practical use.